Christine

Death Creeps

Death Creeps

Since the night of my father’s death I had travelled back and forth between the world of colour and the world of grey. It used to make me dizzy since it tended to come and go, but eventually I could still go about my days.

On the anniversary of my father’s death I went to his grave to just talk to him, let him know I hadn’t forgotten him. I was just leaving when this big dogs ran into me, or rather through me. He was larger than I was and I stand at 5’8! It was bulky and pitch black, shadows leaking from its body as it slinked through the graveyard. When he circled back around I got a glimpse of his fiery eyes and gleaming white teeth. He paid me no mind at first but after a while of my continuous staring he finally looked at me.

“You can see me.” He growled, not angrily but loudly. He slinked to my side, large and intimidating, “You are not of the Other, yet you have the Sight” He was part of the grey, the world of no colour. I blinked and he was gone, I was back in the colours; I could still hear his voice, raspy and thin “The Sight was not yours, you’re no longer in.” He could tell I had left, that I could no longer see him, he could smell the fear that leaked off my skin.

Death did not scare me, no, I was afraid to die then because I hadn’t yet lived. 

I had left the graveyard, shaking with adrenaline, I could feel the cold ripple through my veins. I was in the world of colour longer than usual, I was just at my door when the world switched to grey; the hound was beside me, as it probably had been the entire way. “You’re back in this world. How do you see without being born?” He spoke in riddles I couldn’t understand.

I was terrified of this question more than the hound.

The hound could not understand how this girl could see this world, she clearly was not born of it, or she’d be able to control it. Her gift was strong but who gave it to her, he could smell the spiritual residue and feel the soul residing in her. Death would love to get his hands on her, but a ward was placed around her, what was going on?

I had never been able to see these things, and all of a sudden they came out to me. I had went to reply when he disappeared, it was interesting to see something that large move that fast. After the day I met the hound I hadn’t crossed into the grey world, which was entirely foreign to me. For weeks I could hear hushed whispers and feel cold fingers slipping through me, it was terrifying to hear and feel what you couldn’t see.

On the fifth week of being completely shut off from the world of grey, I was suddenly knocked back into it. I was driving on the road, planning to go to a small spa in the town over, I took a back road to avoid traffic lights and other cars, when suddenly I was jerked into the world. 

The car swerves off the side of the road, slamming into a rather large tree. Creatures creep around the vehicle, smell the blood as it pours from her face. She slumps over, unconscious, her head against the steering wheel and have the car ripped from the passenger side. The girl groans and holds her head, unbuckles herself and steps from the car.

I saw a man standing close to the car, he was part of the grey as he reached out a slimy hand. His hair was like oil and stuck to his head, his eyes were like fire, burning deeply and fiercely. He was taller than I was, by way more than a foot, I stood at 5’8 at still had to crane my neck up. “Come” came a voice, venom laced with sweet. The whisper was quiet but slithered through the air, his mouth was stitched closed but he spoke through my mind.

“This is the Other” he gestures around, in one swift motion he takes up my arm and drags me forward, he takes out a key and holds it in the air. A door shows where the key was, he turns the lock and the door opens. I had no choice as he pulled me through, a world that was similar to the one I’ve been raise, but the colours were different, much brighter and strange. 

The sky was bright orange as the sun glowed blue, the grass was deep brown, as if burned by fire. The man was gone and alone I stood, the door was gone so what did I do?

I moved forward to explore this strange new world. I came to a civilization a few miles down and I saw a young child playing outside. There were buildings, like apartments, and children played around. 

I kept walking and walking, exploring this parallel world, when I came across a building that was tall and intimidating. It looked like a bee-hive, painted in silver and gleaming in the blue sunlight.